A Newark housing employee testified today that he gave Tamika Riley special attention with her rental of office space from the city and that Riley threatened several times to take her gripes over city contracts to then Mayor Sharpe James.

Leroy Brantley, a property management supervisor in the Department of Economic and Housing Develoment, said much of the interaction with Riley - James' co-defendant in his federal corruption trial - occurred during the renovation of her office space at 111 Mulberry St. around 2001 and again when she bought city-own property in 2005.

Brantley said he first met Riley when his boss, Johnny Jones, then the assistant director of the department, asked him to do a walk-through inspection of the city-owned Mulberry Street office space with Riley. Jones, who is also a friend of James, participated in that walk-through, something he did not normally do when leasing office space to others, Brantley testified.

Riley obtained the basement office as the sole respondent to an advertised bid and eventually negotiated an agreement to renovate the space at the city's expense.

Brantley said that, too, was unusual, because commercial leases with the city generally are awarded "as-is,'' with the tenant responsible for the renovations.

On cross-examination, however, Brantley said the basement suffered water damage from a broken underground city main.

James, 72, is accused of steering city land deals to Riley, 38, who allegedly earned more than $600,000 by quickly reselling the properties without renovating most of them as required by the contracts with the city.

Prosecutors allege James, who left office in 2006, gave the Jersey City entrepreneur and publicist special treatment because the pair had an extramarital affair. Riley's attorney has acknowledged a romantic relationship between the two but said it was brief and had occurred after she started buying property in the city.

Brantley said Jones told him to get the repairs done as soon as possible. He said he often tried to keep the peace between Riley and contractors, often threatening to call Jones if things didn't go her way.

"Did she make any statements regarding calling the mayor,?'' Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip Kwon asked.

"Yes. She said if she needed to, she would,'' Brantley replied.

That threat came up again, he said, when there was a problem with a doorway.

"She told me I had a choice of getting it done or she would get on the phone and reach out for the mayor,'' Brantley testified.

About four years later, Brantley testified, he took Riley to inspect 590 Bergen St., a run-down home in need of rehabilitation that she eventually purchased and resold quickly for a $96,000 profit.

When Riley learned that purchase didn't include an adjoining lot, she made another phone call, this time to James' secretary, Deborah Moore, Brantley said.

"Was it your understanding she wanted to talk to Deborah Moore?'' Kwon asked.

"No. She wanted to know if the mayor was there,'' Brantley said.

During inspections of properties she was considering buying, Riley had contracts with her, leading him to believe that she planned to renovate the sites, Brantley said on cross-examination.

Prosecutors contend Riley had no intention of rehabilitating many of the nine parcels she purchased before reselling them to developers.